MIA: Missing In Action
by LoveandLearn
Summary: After Addison arrives in Seattle Derek is predetermined to hate her until someone unexpected finds her way back into their life. The daughter who was kidnapped over ten years earlier. But can they ever truely be the same fairtale family that they were?
1. Chapter 1

From day one Derek Shepherd had been the most attentive father known to man. He would do anything for his wife or child. If he could, he would have given birth himself to spare Addison of the pain. He would be the first to get up if their daughter was to cry in the middle of the night, he would never complain about being tired.

"Are you sure you don't want me to call in sick? We both know how fussy she is when she's not feeling well." he offered for the thousandth time.

"Derek, she's my daughter. She's had a fever before, it's not the first time that I take care of her myself. We will be fine." she insisted. "I'll give her another dose of Tylenol and she will be better by the time you get home from work."

"I'm not doubting you, I just don't wanna leave you alone." he continued but stopped when he saw her glare at him. "Fine..." he sighed. "I'm leaving."

Addison closed the door behind him, not bothering to lock it with the assumption that Derek would change his mind halfway to his car and come back. She went to check on her daughter who was curled up in her crib, coughing in her coma like sleep. She hated seeing her daughter in such pain, even though it was just a simple cold.

She went into her room and shut the door halfway, assuming that she would be able to hear if her daughter needed her. Addison crawled back into bed and shut her eyes. She figured there was no point in being awake so early if she didn't have to go to work.

Three hours later she awoke to see it was 9:30 in the morning and knew her daughter was probably on verge of waking up. She got out of bed, forced herself to change and went into Alexa's room just in time to see her open her eyes. Addison smiled down at the one year old as she watched her rub her eyes groggily.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty." she whispered. "Feeling any better, princess?"

Alexa reached out her arms, wordlessly asking for her mother to take her out of the imprisonment of her crib. Addison complied. She took her daughter and changed her diaper while doing everything possible to make the baby giggle. "Mama..." she squealed happily. "No boo-boo."

"Yeah?" Addison responded with a smile. "I'm glad you feel better, baby. Your father was ready to take you to the ER in the middle of the night just because of your fever." she said, suddenly realizing that the 12 month old could barely understand half of what was said.

"Dada?" Alexa asked with a knock-out smile. "Wok?"

"Yes, sweetheart, your Daddy is at work." her mother replied, placing her on the plush carpet in her fresh diaper and a clean pair of footsie pajamas to keep her warm. She placed her favorite toys on the ground in front of her and sat down across from her with her legs chris-cross. "What are we playing with first today, Lex?"

Alexa sat there, carefully considering her options. She reached for a book when the phone began to ring. Then she looked up at her mother and grinned, "Dada!" she exclaimed.

Addison pushed herself up unwillingly, but she knew her daughter was right. It was Derek and if she didn't answer than he would keep calling or have a panic attack. "I'll be back in a minute, honey. Try not to do anything crazy while I'm gone, okay?"

Alexa had no idea what her mother said but she looked up at her with a smile. "Yup." she agreed innocently and focused on the pictures in her book until her mother would return to read it to her. The next thing she knew was a man grabbing her before she could scream. From then on everything became a haze for her. Alexa had no idea what was going on, she had no idea who's arms she was in and she couldn't recognize where she was going. Usually she was on top of all of that. She always knew where she was and who was there to take care of her.

Addison walked back into the room a matter of two minutes later with the who glued to her ear. "You were right, baby. It's Daddy and he wants to talk to you." she said as she walked into the room, all before realizing that she was talking to no body. Once she saw the broken closet door and took in the emptiness of the room she began to panic. "Alexa?" she called out loudly.

"She's not a dog, Addie. She's not gonna come running to you when you call her name, She can barely walk five feet without falling on her ass." she heard Derek say over the phone. "Where is she? How can she not be in her room?"

Addison ran to the front door to discover it wide open. She remembered leaving it unlocked thinking he would come back, she never went back to lock it after that. She saw the muddy footprint leading into the house and she unknowingly let out a sob. "Her closet door was broken down, the front door is open and there are muddy prints on the marble, Derek." she told him, her voice breaking as the tears began to flow openly. She ran out, hoping to catch whoever it was in time to stop it but there was nothing out of the ordinary in site.

Derek took a deep breath, realizing that he was about to live any parents' worst nightmare. "Ad, try to breathe. I'll be right there, I'm leaving here right now." he did his best to reassure her but he knew there was nothing he could do or say that would make her feel better. "I'll be there in 10 minutes, call 911."

"The hospital is 20 minutes away." Addison managed to get the words out through her tears.

"Addison, I will be there in 10 minutes." he repeated more insistently.

* * *

One Year Later

"So that's it?" Derek snapped at the detective. They were sitting in a conference room of the police station with a thin folder which contained the details in relevance to their daughter's case and two detectives who promised to do everything possible to bring her back home. "We're suppose to give up that easily?"

"I'm not saying that you should give up, Mr. Shepherd. I'm sure it's not so easy it give up hope. You're her parents, you'll always have hope to find her. But realistically we are at a dead end." one of the detectives explained. "There isn't any evidence for us to work off of, we don't have any information..."

"You've spent a lot of money trying to publicize this story. Everyone in America knows what your daughter looks like and they know she's missing. This has been one of the most highly publicized kidnap cases since Adam Walsh. And no one has seen her, no one has seen anyone that looks anything like her." the other detective continued. "If we had calls coming in, if the kidnapper was to be trying to contact you for ransom we'd have something to work off of. We've got nothing."

"Well find something!" Addison screamed. "You don't have anything because you never tried to find something! There was always some murder or robbery that was more important. You kept putting her on the backtrack and now you want to give up because you missed your window of opportunity? What the fuck is that about?"

"I understand you're upset, Mrs. Shepherd, but this isn't our fault..."

"You can not possibly understand how I feel. Do you even have children? Either of you." She fumed and when she got no response she knew the answer. "Exactly. So how the fuck would you know what it's like to lose a child if you don't have one to begin with?"

"I wish there was something more we could do for the two of you, I'm sure your daughter meant the world to you." one of the men said solemnly as they both got up to leave the room. "We'll leave you alone..."

Once alone, Derek glanced over at his wife who was sitting there with her head in her hands, doing her best to not break down into tears in the middle of the police station. "Are you okay?" he asked her softly as he pulled his chair closer to her and rested a supportive hand on her shoulder.

Addison nodded and wiped away the one tear she wasn't able to hold back. "I'll be fine." she whispered as she got up. "Can we get out of here and go home? Please? I can't stand to look at this place anymore."

Derek nodded understanding and escorted her to the car. During the entire ride home they sat in silence. Addison stared out the window as he drove. His attention was split between her and he road ahead of him. Once they got home, Derek's sole concern became Addison. He did everything he could for her but knew it wasn't helping. Over the course of days he saw her falling into a downward spiral. He realized she wasn't eating, she wasn't sleeping. She barely ever got off her couch. She wasn't concerned about herself or her job anymore.

"Do you wanna talk about it, Addison?" he asked one night, knowing that he was taking a risk. She could start screaming at him or worse, she could break down and isolate herself again. "I miss being able to hold you while you sleep. Do you think you could at least come to bed tonight? You need to try to get some sleep."

Addison diverted her eyes from the TV. "What's the point?" she whispered hoarsely.

"You have to move on with your life, babe. I'm not telling you to give up on her, but I don't want you to give up on your life just because she's not with us." he replied. "I miss her too. I love her too. This is hard for me too. But I've been talking about it with Mark and Weiss and Sam.. and trust me.. it helps. If you don't want to talk to Nai or Savvy, you could talk to me."

"What do you want me to say?" Addison asked him. She exhaled a breath and sat up. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to snap at you for no reason but I don't know how to deal with this. I've been trying, I have, I just... I don't know how to do it."

"You don't have to try to deal with it alone. You've got me, we've got a whole posse of people who are there for us." he reminded her and took a seat on the couch close beside her. "Just tell me how you feel, what you've been thinking for the past two weeks. I promise it'll make you feel better, you might even be able to get some sleep tonight."

"I feel lost. I never thought this would end like this. I really believed that the police would find her, I thought she'd be back in my arms before her second birthday...But that's two days away and we're sitting here without her and I feel... I don't even know how I feel."

Derek slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to himself. He felt her head drop onto his should and heard her sigh. "Trust me, it's not over. One day, when we least expect it she's gonna be back in our lives and we're gonna be a family again."

"You don't know that." She pointed out pessimistically. "You're just saying it because you know it will make us feel better. In reality we both know that that may never happen."

"Addison, I do know that." Derek insisted. "I didn't just say it because it's the only thing that comforts me. I honestly believe that she is still out there and we will find her. With our luck, the timing of it will suck, we'll have a hard time balancing everything to include her but the important thing is that I just know she'll be back."

He felt Addison sniffle and nodded against his shoulder. "You think we're gonna be okay?"

"I know it." he promised.

* * *

Back with another chapter story :D I've been working on this one for a while, I wanted to make it perfect before posting. If I missed any typos, let me know. Those drive me insane. Anyway, I have the first half of this story all written out and the second half is very well planned. I don't know how long it's going to be but I doubt it'll be as long as the last one. I'm aiming for 10 chapters, 12 max but we'll see. This is the prologue, I wanted to introduce the plot instead of diving right in like I usually do.

Let me know what you think of the storyline so far. I wanted to do something that hadn't been done too many times but I'm not sure how much people will like the subject. I would love to hear suggestions if you guys have any.


	2. Chapter 2

It was suppose to be just like any other case. Addison confidently walked into the ER and took the chart a nurse extended out to her. She approached the bed that had a teenage girl lying in it with her father hovering close beside.

"Hello. I'm Dr. Montgomery." she introduced herself with a small polite smile while flipping the chart open.

"George Walters. This is my daughter, Alexa." he responded as the same polite gesture.

"Hi, Alexa." Addison smiled at the teen looking up at her with a look of fear in her eyes. "The ER doctor said you have been having abdominal pain." she stated, though it was more of a question which she needed to be confirmed.

The chunky man standing on the opposite side of the bed observed her carefully. He looked straight into her eyes and slowly scanned her appearance and features. He was without a doubt, the creepiest person Addison had ever met in her entire life. She knew from the look in his eyes that he wasn't like any average father. "No offense but why do we need a gynecologist for stomach pain. Her vagina is not on her stomach." he asked, his eyes fixed on the hospital ID hanging from the pocket of Addison's lab coat.

"Mr. Walters gynecology is basically medicine in relation to the female body. It's the study of diseases which effect women, most of which happen to be reproductive hence the misconception." Addison explain. "Its not the study of vaginas."

"Excuse my ignorance, doctor." the man answered sarcastically. "Will you please hurry up? We have got to get going."

Addison nodded, turning on the ultrasound machine. "Let me take a look at this and if we still can't diagnose her than I'll order an MRI." she answered while maneuvering the transducer over her abdomen. The teen winced in pain from the pressure being applied to her skin, she shut her eyes tightly to keep from crying. "I'm sorry, Alexa, I know this hurts. Just give me a minute." Addison said sympathetically.

"We don't have time for this, Dr. Montgomery!" George exclaimed from the other side of the bed while suspiciously watching Addison.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Walters, but I can't fast forward through this whole thing and end up missing something that could be fatal." Addison snapped. "And I really think you should be waiting out in the waiting room. The hospital has a policy for teenage patients. It's easier for us, it's easier for them and you."

"You want me to leave my daughter?" he asked incredulously and looked at her as if he would lash out and beat her at that very second. "With you?"

"Dad, it's not like she's asking you to leave the building...though I'm sure someone will if you keep acting like this." Alexa spoke up softly, fighting past her fear to have her voice heard. "Please. For me? Maybe she's right...I mean, I'm sure they didn't come up with that policy because it's fun to enforce. There has to be some logic and research behind it."

"Fine." he gave up, dragging his feet across the floor until he was no longer visible. He sat in the waiting room impatiently waiting for his daughter to be released and mentally kicking himself for bringing her to the hospital in the first place.

Meanwhile, Addison turned her attention back to her patient and completing the exam. She was stopped abruptly about halfway through when the teenage girl skeptically looked up at her. She stopped what she was doing, dropping her trademark intimidating facade. "You okay?" she asked.

"People tell you really random irrelevant stories all the time, right?" she asked. "So I won't be the only idiot to tell you something I've never told anyone."

"People tell me everything and anything they feel like they have to tell me." Addison answered. "..And sometimes they tell me things that they really don't need to tell me. But whatever it is, I'm no one to judge you for it. So if you have something to tell me and it's going to bother you if you don't, than just tell me. I promise it won't effect your treatment in any way."

"I swear, this is going to top your list of the craziest, most pointless stories ever." Alexa warned before drawing in a breath to begin the story. "Ever since I was a little kid, I've had this really weird dream. Not every single night but like...once a week. It's the same dream over and over again, the exact same things happen and it always ends the same way. I always wake up before it finishes. Anyway, in this dream there is this woman and now that I think about I could swear it's you."

Addison listened intently, not making any expressions which could discourage the child from confiding in her. She arched her brow and kept her arms crossed across her chest. "I mean... I suck at dream analysis but...Maybe you've seen me somewhere and never really noticed." she suggested. "Does it make this uncomfortable for you? Because if it does, I could call a different doctor. Or, I know your in a rush but if you want you could tell me about your dream and we could figure out why you think it's me. Maybe you'll stop having the dream if you understand what you're seeing."

"I haven't seen you anywhere." Alexa answered surely. "My dad and I, we live in the middle of no where. And I've never left the house...ever. This is my first time leaving the house. So I'm sure I've never seen you anywhere."

"TV? Internet? Magazine? My family owns Forbes magazine so...that might explain it. Or newspaper... something along those lines."

"Nope. My dad doesn't let me watch TV, we don't even have one. Or a computer...and we don't read magazines or newspapers." she answered.

Addison looked blank for a second, realizing that her patient had been socially isolated for as long as she could remember. "Okay, well..." she paused, not wanting to bring up touchy issues. "If you want to talk to me about it, I'm all ears. I'd be more than happy to help in anyway that I can." she gave a reassuring smile and sat down on a stool beside the bed, crossing her legs and lending her undivided attention.

"The dream...it starts out with this woman and a baby. She takes the baby out of her crib and changes her and all that then puts her on the carpet in the nursery. She gives the kid a bunch of toys to play with and watches for a little while. Then the phone rings and she leaves, saying she'll be back in a second. As soon as she walks out someone jumps out of a closet and takes the baby. I usually wake up before I can see her reaction or what happens next." Alexa explained.

Addison jaw dropped slightly. She wasn't sure how to react or what to say. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. The story she'd just heard was a story she knew all too well, a story that haunted her not once a week but every single night.

"Dr. Montgomery?" Alexa asked cautiously, "Are you okay?"

* * *

I know this is a little on the short side, sorry about that. I tried to add more but I felt like it killed the strength of the chapter. I used a little of that scene from Private Practice, Season Three, Episode 22. That guy was so creepy that I had to use the character. But the daughter didn't strike me as Addek. I'm picturing Alexa as that girl who plays Amy in Secret Life of An American Teenager. Although I gave up watching the show, I still think she would make the perfect teenage Addek daughter. I dont remember if I've ever said that in an A/N before. If I did, sorry for the repition.

Have any thoughts on how the story line is developing? If you have suggestions or requests, let me know.  
BTW: Should this end Maddison or Addek? I'm leaning more toward Addek but it's up to you guys.


	3. Chapter 3

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Addison asked hesitantly, making sure to keep a few feet of distance between them as she spoke to him.

"I don't have time." he simply answered, prepared to walk away if she was to push him into the conversation. "We are at work, we are professional...at least I am. I'm not sure about you. So while we are at work, we are going to keep things between us strictly professional. No talking about anything not related to medicine. Got it?"

"Derek, will you pull that stick out of your ass for two minutes and listen to me?" she asked, finding herself getting a little more temperamental than she had intended to when she first approached him. "I'm not asking you to forgive me or let me explain. I'm not trying to get you to break up with your girlfriend. I'm not even asking you to stop treating me like I'm not human. All I want it for you to listen to me and not roll your eyes."

"I don't have time for this." he repeated once again.

"It's Alexa, Derek." she blurted out. She'd been thinking about how she would tell him for hours. She had no idea how to say it or how he would react but as it turns out, all the planning was for nothing. "I'm sorry...I wasn't suppose to tell you like this but I thought you'd listen. She's in the ER, well... I'm having her transferred to ICU so she can't be checked out AMA."

Derek scoffed loudly before rolling his eyes. "The things you are willing to do for attention..." he mumbled beneath his breath.

"I- what?" Addison found herself asking. It wasn't at all a reaction she'd pictured herself responding to. "I'm not doing this for attention, Derek. I'm glad that no one here knows about her, I'm glad no one pities me and looks at me like they feel bad for me. I don't want attention."

"Then what the hell are you doing all of this for?" Derek snapped, screaming loudly without caring that everyone on the surgical floor was staring at him. "Why are you here? Why are you trying to convince me that our kid is here? If that's not for attention than what the hell is? She's dead, Addison. She's been dead for a very long time. Over a decade. You need to accept that and move on with your life."

"She's not dead." Addison insisted in a whisper, looking down at the ground while he yelled at her.

"They never found her, Addison. They found traces of her blood in some guys car... abandoned in the middle of no where. She's gone, Addison. She's gone and you need to learn to deal with that and not hang on to false hope."

"She's not dead. She's up in the ICU. She's got wavy brown hair but in bright light it looks auburn and greenish-blueish eyes. She's got your skin tone and my smile. She has your charm, your way of making everything sound less horrible than it really is. She does that thing with her eye brow that I used to do. You would say it was the cutest thing ever. It's her, Derek. It's our daughter and she's here."

"Have you done a DNA test?" he responded dully, obviously still not convinced that it could be his child. He had spent too much time grieving her loss to try to process the possibility that she was never actually gone.

Addison shook her head. "I have a blood sample from her. I was going to ask if you could draw blood from me so I could take it to the lab for comparison." she answered in a low tone, prepared to be rejected after the reaction he had given.

"Fine." he remarked dryly. "But you should know, when the results don't match and the DNA test turns out negative... you're gonna be alone in recovering from that. I'll be there to say 'I told you so' but I'm not giving you a hand to hold or a shoulder to cry on."

"I don't expect you to be there." she assured. "If it's negative than I'll wallow in misery for a day or two, hating myself for giving myself false hope and then I'll bury it and move on. If it's positive than I'll still expect nothing from you, all I wanted was for you to know. If you don't want to be involved than I'm not going to force you."

"You say that now..." Derek told himself in a quiet tone, knowing she wouldn't have heard him. But she knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't be able to go through any of it alone.

* * *

That night Addison had volunteered to stay for the night shift. She didn't want to risk leaving her daughter and it's not like she would be able to sleep if she was to be at her hotel. She held the results of the DNA test in her hand with a few other envelopes while she stood outside Derek's office contemplating what her next move would be.

After a few more seconds of thought, she knocked on the door and waited for a response. She heard Derek shout his permission to enter before she walked in. There was a time when formalities like that were unnecessary between them but now times had changed. She walked in to see Derek sitting at his desk with Meredith standing beside him, leaning against the desk.

"Sorry, did I bother you guys?" she asked in a state of withdrawal. She didn't seem to be effected by the situation anymore but that was only because she was good at putting on a facade which no one could see past.

"No." Meredith answered as she increased the distance between herself and Derek. "We have a surgery together tomorrow morning and I wanted to go over the details with him."

"Do you think you can give us a few minutes?" Derek asked softly, knowing she would be leaving either way. Meredith nodded and walked out the door, closing it on her way out.

"I uh...have the results." she informed as she placed the lab results on his desk. "I know it usually takes a day or two but I had them put a rush on it just to give us a one dimension answer. That's all we really needed. And it's positive. She's our daughter."

Derek didn't show much emotion. He just opened the folder and scanned through the results. "I wasn't really expecting this." he admitted.

"I know. I also have divorce and custody papers. Three different sets, actually." she responded as she spread out three different versions of the same document in front of him. "Sign the first one if you don't want anything to do with her after the divorce. No custody, no visitations, no child support or alimony or anything like that. Second set would give me primary physical custody but you could visit when you want and we'd make all major decisions together. Set three gives us 50/50 custody in the divorce."

Derek nodded as he flipped through all three sets of the divorce papers. "I still want to read through them before I decide which set I sign."

Addison nodded. "Just let me know what you decide because I'm no gonna say anything to her until we know what we're doing."

"So she doesn't suspect anything right now?" he asked.

"No. I don't know how to tell her or what to tell her. And if she asks about her father than I wanna be able to be honest with her and not lie and give her false hope."

Derek nodded, telling her that he understood and accepted her decision. She left without another word and left him staring at three different forms which would inevitably end his marriage.

* * *

Thanks for all the reviews! I seriously grin like an idiot when I read every single one of them. And the votes was 11 for Addek, 1 for Maddison so it will be Addek...but a little later in the story.  
I know Derek is a bitch in this chapter but I promise, he will be a lot better in coming chapters. I don't know if you guys noticed, but I like making Derek a bitch in the beginning and making him perfect in the end.

Don't forget a review ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Allee: I totally respect your opinion. But this is FANfiction, hence the concept that you can write can pairing you so choose to. And Addison and Derek were a canon couple, it's not like I'm the creator of Addek. If you don't like them together than just read stories that have them together. Don't discourage the writers. I understand you don't mean to sound rude but some people really do get effected negatively.

* * *

"You have a child?" Meredith yelled at the top of her lungs while walking back and forth in her living room. "You told me your daughter died, Derek. How is it that she magically comes back to life a few weeks after your secret wife shows up? Is she pregnant with quints or something? Because I'm just waiting for the next bit of shocking news."

Derek sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know! She was dead, that's what the police said! At first we didn't know where she was, there was nothing to give them any evidence as to whether she's dead or alive..almost four years after she was kidnapped the police called us and said they found a car abandoned at the side of the road and there was her blood staining the interior. It was only logical to assume she was dead!"

"But she's not!" Meredith screamed. "She's alive... she's alive and she's in Seattle. What the hell is suppose to happen now?"

"I don't know."

She stopped pacing back and forth and stood in front of Derek. "You aren't going to let her with out of that hospital with that man are you? You're gonna call the police to get her back, right?" she asked.

"Addison is desperate to get her back. She's done the DNA test but I'm not sure if she's contacted the police or if she's spoken to the kid." he answered. "She gave me three different sets of divorce papers with different custody agreements so I assume she's spoken to a lawyer about it. Maybe she's got her lawyer working on all of that."

"She gave you divorce papers?" Meredith asked in relief. "So she doesn't want you to try to be a perfect little family again? She realizes that you've moved on from her and she's not trying to trap you in your marriage? That seems for not-satanic of her."

"She's not stupid, Meredith. I think she picked up on the fact that I'm not exactly too fond of her anymore. And she's always said, from the very beginning, that she doesn't want to a charity case. She doesn't want anyone to stay by her side just because they pity her." he explained. "After Alexa was taken, she didn't speak to anyone for almost a month because she didn't want people to feel obligated to help her."

"Maybe that's way she's alone right now." Meredith suggested. "If she's so keen on shutting everyone out while she needs them than she shouldn't expect you to be there for her now."

"She doesn't expect me to be there. She told me she'll pull through alone somehow. But the point is, this isn't about Addison. This is about Alexa. I don't know what to do about her."

"I heard the chief talking to your wife. He was saying how he remembered you being this amazing father. And he told her that he remembered the day your daughter was born and how you told him that you'd do anything to take Addison's place because seeing her in pain kills you. Then she looked all guilty... He just kept talking about how perfect your family was and how cute you looked. He went on and on about how connected you were to your daughter. He says he's glad you have a second chance at all of that." Meredith paused and took a breath. "If any of that is true, if you were so attached to her than I think you need to try to work things about with your daughter."

"I don't know. I'm not sure I'm the same person. I was so young and naive back then. I was blindly in love and I did what was expected of me." he admitted. "I don't really know that kid anymore. And I'm not on great terms with her mother. It's not the same situation it used to be."

* * *

The next morning Derek found himself walking off the elevator onto the Pediatric floor. He walked toward the nurse's station to find out what room his daughter was in and much to his surprise, he saw Addison sitting there and working on a chart.

"What are you doing here?" he asked not so politely, but not as harsh as he could have. He was doing his best to start treating her better. It was a work in progress but at least he was trying.

Addison looked up from the file she was working on. "I have a few patients here. Richard made me head of Peds surgery, remember? Your regular attending is on maternity leave. I'm suppose to fill in while I'm here. We had this conversation on the elevator the morning you decided I was Satan."

"Right, right..." Derek nodded. "I remember. Must had slipped my mind with all that's going on."

She checked the screen of her cell phone than shut the file in front of her. "Wanna know the real reason I'm sitting here?" she asked.

Derek's brows rose, he looked at her curiously. "You have a real reason and a fake reason?"

"The cops are suppose to be here any second to arrest the man in there pretending to be our child's father. And I know this is really sadistic but I wanted to see that. After everything he's put me through over the last 12 years, I really wanna see him go down." she admitted shyly. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to see her." he answered instantly. "I mean...not talk to her or meet her. Just look in through the window and see her for a second. I was curious to know what she looks like now."

Addison smiled. "She's beautiful. She's perfect. And I'm not saying that because I'm her mother and I'm bias. I honestly thought that before I realized she was my child."

She was interrupted by a squad of policemen walking of the elevator, all of them already knew where to go and what to do. Derek stood aside and watched as they entered the room, Addison didn't even get up from her seat. She just watched as two officers walked out with the hefty man cuffed between them.

"Shepherd." she heard the man say bitterly as he stopped right in front of them, not allowing the police to pull him away at any cost.  
Derek felt his heart pound fast while he struggled to come up with some sort of response. Addison on the other hand, had no idea what was going on. She looked to Derek for an answer but saw he was too shocked to provide the answers she was looking for.

"This doesn't mean anything, Shepherd. You may think you win, but your kid won't make it that easy. Trust me, I'm the one who raised her." he shouted as he was hauled away.

"You know him?" Addison asked after all the buzz died down.

"His son was a patient of mine while I was an intern. His kid was the first kid I ever witnessed live brain surgery on. He didn't make it through the surgery and this guy was convinced that it was my fault even though I didn't even touch the scalpel. I was just standing five feet away and watching. Alexa was just born at the time, I guess he found out and sought revenge. It never crossed my mind back then, it seems too fictional to believe. But it makes sense now, right?"

"I don't know, Derek. I don't know what I'm doing, okay? I'm suppose to go in there right now and tell her why her father was arrested...and I don't know what to say." she exhaled heavily.

"I'll come with you." Derek offered. "I've been thinking about this all night and I wanna be there for my daughter. I know it's not gonna be easy but we owe it to her, right? We have to try as best we can to be there for her no matter how we feel about each other, or anything else."  
Addison nodded and got up, straighting out her skirt. "You're right." she admitted, leading to way to the private room. She stood outside the door and looked at Derek skeptically. "Maybe I should just wait out here while you tell her..." she decided.

Derek shook his head adamantly. "We are doing this together." he said firmly and led her into the room.

Alexa's eyes widened when she saw the two of them walk in. "Dr. Montgomery.." she heaved as she wiped away her tears. "What happen to my dad? Did you hear anything?"

"I um.." Addison struggled, trying to find the right words to say to sound reassuring and supportive.

"Alexa, I'm Derek Shepherd, Addison's husband. We know that what we're about to tell you may be a little hard to believe but we'll be here for you." he started. "You were kidnapped 12 years ago. That man you considered to be your father wasn't your father. He was the one that took you from your parents."

Her brows rose in disbelief and Derek immediately noticed. When Addison had described their daughter to him she mentioned that she had the tendency to arch her brows, just like her mother. And seeing it reminded Derek just how much he missed the little things he took for grantited when everything in his life was still perfectly in balance.

"But then...who are my real parents? Where are they? How can they know I'm their kid if they aren't here, if they've never seen me?" Alexa asked.

Derek glanced at his wife who was standing against the wall in silence and watching their daughter. He decided the he should probably answer the question given that it didn't appear like Addison was planning on saying anything anytime soon. "We're your parents."

Alexa looked intently at Derek for a while then changed target to Addison. "Get out." she finally said.

Addison complied without argument. She walked out of the room but Derek wasn't ready to let it slide yet. "Alexa, we know this is har-" he was cut off before he could even finish the word.

"Get out." his daughter repeated. He could see the pain glimmering in his eyes, he didn't want to be the one to hurt her. He didn't want anyone to hurt her. He wanted to make everything as easy as possible for her. So without further argument he walked out of the room and joined Addison just outside the door.

"I probably shouldn't have gotten my hopes so high." she said softly.

* * *

Yes, Alexa is going to be a bitch about it. I love writing kids with bitch personalities, they are so much more amusing to write (and read) than innocent kids.

Love to know your thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

After Alexa had been discharged, she had decided that she would rather live with Derek than Addison. She wasn't getting along well with Addison. They rarely spoke when they were together and when they did it was usually casual conversation without depth or importance. She gotten along fairly well with Derek but wasn't on comfortable terms with Addison. Things always seemed awkward between them, despite Addison's efforts, Alexa had no interest in forming any kind of bond with her.

Alexa spotted Derek standing by the nurse's station, he was going through the nurse's notes on his patient's chart before the surgery he had scheduled. A few feet away, she saw her mother doing what she assumed was the same thing.

"Hey, Alexa." Derek said once he closed the chart and saw her standing by him. "I didn't realize you were here, you should have said something. Did you have fun with Meredith and Izzie? They were really excited about today."

Addison looked up from her chart when she heard her daughter's name. She couldn't help but smile as she watched Derek interact with her. He was still the flawless father he had been when she was a toddler. He hadn't lost his touch. "Where'd you guys go?" Addison asked with a smile.

"Meredith and Izzie took her shopping. Her lack of clothes was bothering them. So they took my credit card and went to the mall." Derek answered.

"Oh..." her smiled died. "I was hoping to be the one to take you shopping. I've always wanted to go shopping with my daughter."

"I'm sure she'll need more clothes, Addison. How much could they have gotten in four hours?" he replied.

"True. How about I get this Friday off? We could fly out to New York Thursday night and we could spend the weekend there. We'll go a spa and shopping and...it'll be fun. We could fly back Sunday afternoon." she offered, already imagining the perfect trip with her daughter. "Trust me, nothing compares to a shopping spree in New York."

Alexa shook her head. "I've got plans with Meredith this weekend." she answered.

"Are you busy next weekend?"

"I don't wanna go to New York with you, okay?" Derek winced from the harshness in his daughter's voice. He glanced at Addison to see her reaction, which to his surprise was neutral.

She just glanced down at the chart she had in her hand and cleared her throat, "Okay, it was just a suggestion. I'm not forcing you to go." Addison answered.

"You don't know how to pick up on a subtle hints." her daughter told her, the coldness still preserved in her voice. "When someone spends minimal time with you and shares nothing in common, when they avoid you at all costs...that generally means they don't like you."

"I should go see my patient, pre-op exam, nervous questions..." her voice died down as she walked away.

"I don't get it." Alexa said as she turned to Derek, "How could you ever have been in love with her? How go you go from her to Meredith? They are like polar opposites."

"You liked her in the beginning, or that's the impression your gave off." Derek reminded her.

"Yeah, when she was just my doctor. She seemed nice and trustworthy, she was supportive and reassuring and all of that." She started to say when Derek cut her off.

"Which, in my opinion, are all excellent qualities in a mother."

"Except for she's not like that as a mother, she's like that as a doctor. The second she found out I was her kid she went into this selfish mode. She didn't care how I would feel about the whole thing. She arranged to have father arrested in front of me. She assumed that I'd be thrilled about the idea of new parents but she never bothered to ask how I feel about the whole thing. I'm not really sure about this but, isn't the point of being a parents to put your child's happiness ahead of your own?"

* * *

"Lier." Derek accused when he barged into Addison's temporary office to see her sitting at her desk with her head down on the flat surface. Addison lifted her head and glared at Derek. "You said you were going to do a pre-op exam. You lied."

"I don't usually like telling people that I'm gonna go have a hysterical fit in my office." Addison answered. "It sounds better when you use your patients as an excuse to get away. But I assume you would know, since your the one that used your patients as an excuse to get away from me all the time."

"Now we're gonna talk about our miserable marriage." Derek trailed off.

"We are not going to talk about our marriage. In fact, we are not going to be talking about anything because you are leaving." She answered. "Forget the fifty/fifty custody agreement, you have full custody. I'm going back to New York as soon as your stupid peds surgeon gets back from her god-damned maternity leave."

"Why are you taking all your anger out on me?" he exclaimed in frustration.

"Because..Because this is your fault! You're the one who made me fall in love with you, you proposed, you're the one who got me pregnant, you ignored me, you left me and now our daughter loves you but hates me. It's your fault that I'm so fucking miserable. Had you never proposed, we wouldn't even be in this position!" she yelled.

"Yeah well, I regret that day just as much as you do! If fact, I regret it almost as much as saying 'I do' instead giving in to the voice in my head and running." He screamed. "We've got a meeting scheduled with the police tomorrow afternoon. Be there. I don't care what the hell you do or where the fuck you go after that, but I need you to be there tomorrow."

Derek got out of bed in the middle of the night and pulled on a pair of pants. He grabbed his cell phone and his keys off the nightstand and ran down the steps of Meredith's house. He carefully shut the door so no one would wake up and got in his car. He reclined the seat and exhaled deeply before slowly dialing a number he'd unconsciously memorized over the decade.

"Come on, pick up." he whispered, two rings later he heard the sound of her voice. "Did I wake you?" he asked before he said anything else.

"No. I wasn't asleep..." she in a tone that he hated when they were still happily married. It was the way her voice sounded after she's been crying and it always made him feel like his heart was gonna explode. This time was no exception.

"Why not? It's like..three in the morning. Most normal people are asleep."

"Well you're not either."

"Yeah, that's because Meredith's snoring is particularly loud tonight. But I've seen you...and I know what insomniac Addison looks like. I became well acquainted in med school. You look like you've gotten absolutely no sleep in months." He told her softly.

"I can't sleep alone." she snapped. "Is that what you wanted to hear? It feels cold and weird and I can't go more than an hour without waking up to the emptiness. So go find a fucking pair of ear plugs and sleep, leave me alone."

"You're really cranky." he observed. "And you snap real easily. It's like your a rubber band that someone wrapped one time too many, you could literally see the snap coming."

"Do you enjoy making my life as difficult as possible?" Addison asked rhetorically.

"I miss holding you while you sleep." he whispered. "Meredith hates if I touch her while she's asleep but it feels weird not to have someone to hold. I miss that. And I miss sleeping beside someone who doesn't sound like a bull horn."

"That's great." she responded dryly.

"Remember when Alexa was like ten or eleven months old and she spent the night between us because she would cry if we left her in her room alone? We were both so afraid of rolling over on her and crushing her that neither one of us ended up getting any sleep that night. We were both like zombies the next day and she had more energy than she'd ever had." he recalled fondly.

"What do you want, Derek?" she asked, trying not to let her emotions get to her as he reminded her of all the memories she unknowingly gave up the right to remember when she jumped in the sack with his best friend.

"I'm just trying to tell you that I'm sorry without actually having to say it." he mumbled.

"You're sorry?" Addison repeated. "For what? You haven't done anything."

"I've been an ass-hole...probably since the second your plane landed in Seattle. I have said some of the rudest insults in world, I may have started a rumor or two... I've been horrible. I wanted to apologize for that. I didn't mean what I said in your office, I don't regret marrying you. I don't regret falling for you. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

He heard Addison laugh from the other end of the line. "You think an apology can erase that? How many times have I apologized to you? You haven't forgiven me, and you're never going to no matter how many more times I do. But you have nothing to apologize for, you have every right to be rude and horrible. So forget about it and go to sleep, okay?"

"No." he answered sternly. "You always listen to everyone else's problems. I've mentioned Meredith a million times and you haven't said anything, you actually sit there and take it. But I'm willing to bet my life savings that you don't talk to anyone. So I just wanted you to know that I'll still listen even if we aren't together anymore."

"I have nothing to tell you, Derek." she stated in a firm and even tone, she managed to keep up that facade for two seconds before it dissolved. "Why does she hate me?" she asked in a whisper that was barely loud enough for him to understand.

"Alexa?" he asked. "She's a teenage girl, Addison. Aren't they all suppose to hate their mothers? I mean... you're almost forty and you hate yours. Guess you never really grew out of that stage."

"She barely knows me. She seemed fine with me at first, before she knew I'm her mother. The second she found out it was like an instant transformation and I was at the top of her most hated list. I just wanna know what I did? I understand what I did to make you hate me, I know why Mark hates me, why Meredith and everyone else in Seattle hates me. I know why your family never liked me to begin with... I know why my family never liked me. I just wanna know why she joined the club. Is it that difficult to feel something other than hate toward me?"

"I uh.." he started to speak until she cut him off.

"Nevermind. Don't answer that. I'm gonna go take a sleeping pill, I need to sleep and stop thinking. I'll see you tomorrow at the police station."

"Okay." he agreed quietly and heard the phone go dead. He sighed before getting out of the car and going back into the house. He walked in through the doorway and turned to make sure it didn't slam shut. He walked two steps and noticed Meredith standing at the base of the stairway.

"Do you always make mysterious phone calls in your car in the middle of the night or is this your first time?" she asked, a touch of sarcasm in her voice. "Who were you talking to that was so urgent that it needed to be said at 3:30 am?"

Derek looked up from the ground and into her eyes. He couldn't bring himself to actually answer her.

* * *

Thoughts?


	6. Chapter 6

"Why are you doing this to me?" Alexa asked, catching both Addison and Derek off guard. They both looked at their daughter, forgetting all about the fact that they in a room with two police officers there questioning them for the upcoming conviction trail. "You have to know that you are making me miserable."

"Alexa, this is hardly the time or the place to finally break your silence and complain." Derek replied, not making it seem like he was at all upset for her sudden confession in present company. "We've been urging you to tell us how you feel about all of this for days."

"Well I wasn't ready. Now I am." Alexa snapped. "I hate this, I hate you people. You think that your money can fix everything. You barely started tolerating one another! Not to mention that I don't even know you and you don't know me. You have no idea who I am or what I like. You think everything would be just like how it was but that's not how life works!" she said with her voice getting louder with each passing second.

"I've seen plenty of cases like this, Alexa. I promise you, it get easier with time. You may feel like strangers now but over time you realize that they love you and they honestly want what's best for you." the investigator told her in complete honesty.

"No, you don't get it. He's not my father, he can never be. He didn't teach me how to ride my bike or swim. He didn't read to me or play catch with me..." she rambled until Addison interrupted her.

"But he did stand by my side for 36 hours because you took your sweet time coming out. When we took you home he was the one that woke up every time you cried. He spent hours panicking over every cough. He would hold you and you'd stop crying. All he had to do was look at you and you'd giggle for an hour. You were a Daddy's girl and chances are

you still would be if you were never taken." Addison gave her snappy response.

"Yeah, and you think just because you gave birth to me it automatically makes you my mother." Alexa scoffed. "You have never done anything. You've never held me while I cried. We've never had one of those long pointless talks, you haven't tucked me in or read to me a single time. You haven't done anything a mother does for her child."

Addison couldn't look at her daughter while she spoke. She waited for her to finish talking then got up and walked out of the room.

Derek looked at his daughter in disbelief. He was surprised that such simple words could hurt to such extent.

"Maybe we should reschedule this." the sheriff suggested.

"Do I have to go with them?" Alexa asked. "Why can't we just drop the charges against my dad so I can go back with him?"

* * *

Alexa walked out of Meredith's house with hesitation. She knew her father was probably sitting on the steps of the porch, most likely lost in thought about how horrible his perfect life had become. She wasn't sure what to say to him but she knew that her earlier statements had hurt him. So she walked out the door and sat down on the steps beside him.

"I'm sorry." she whispered.

Derek turned his head toward her, just noticing that she had joined him. "What?" he asked

"Addis- she was right." Alexa began, although she couldn't go through with actually saying her mother's name. "And she doesn't need an ego boost so don't tell her that but she was right. Everyone I've met over the last couple days kept saying what an amazing father you were to me. I shouldn't have doubted that at the police station. I shouldn't have embarrassed you like that. You're really trying now and I've been a pain in the ass..."

"You don't remember anything from when we were still your parents, you have a right to question it. George Walters was there from you as far back as your memory goes." Derek answered. "Addison and I- we're strangers to you. And it's hard for you to adjust to having a whole new lifestyle with very different people than you're used to."

"It's weird to have a father who doesn't want to have sex with me." Alexa mumbled under her breath. "And it's really weird to think that you actually love me or care about me."

Derek's face twisted in disgusted, and he even gagged without being able to hold it back. He did his best not to let his breakfast make a reappearance from the thought. "It never really crossed my mind that he would do that to you. It should have...it's obvious but I...I don't know how a father or a father figure could do that to his child."

Alexa shrugged. "I used to think it's normal for the longest time. I mean...he's the only person I've ever really know. I never met anyone, I never went to school. I actually had to teach myself. Once I realized that a father isn't suppose to want to...do that, that's when things got bad over there. I was in the ER that day because I thought I had internally bleeding after a bad night and I convinced him it was something that could kill me. That's the only reason he brought me here."

"Well, if it was internal bleeding it could have killed you." Derek told her. "But Addison never mentioned that, and trust me, she ran every test she could name to make sure you were okay. And trust me, I'd never do anything to hurt you, no one in your life right now would. We all love you, Alexa and we want the best for you."

She nodded. "I know. I guess once she leaves it'll be easier when it's just you and Meredith."

"She?" Derek asked, looking into her eyes before he could understand who she was talking about. "Your mother?"

"Not my favorite title for her but yeah..."

"You know that she loves you too, right? Possibly more than everyone else combined. And she went through hell for years while you were gone and she never really moved on." Derek informed her. "I wasn't alone in being an amazing parent when you were little. She was great too. She would do anything for you, she gave up so much just to be able to spend half an hour more with you everyday. You were her only priority for that one year we had you."

"But she's a different person now." Alexa pointed out.

"Well yeah, she is... losing you changed her, the end of our marriage changed her. She's not as confident as she used to be, she's not as out going or social, not as happy but she's still a strong, independent, determined woman and that's what I fell in love with." he explained. "She's not as different as you imagine."

* * *

The next morning Addison walked out of her office to see her daughter standing right outside her door, obviously contemplating whether or not to go in.

"Alexa.." she started hesitantly, unsure of the reason for her daughter's visit.

"Dr. Montgomery." Alexa answered nervously as she looked up at Addison with her nervous rattling.

"Look, I know we're not close but you shouldn't feel like you have to be formal with me." Addison replied. "I don't expect you to call me 'Mom', you really don't have to. I understand that it's something I'd have to earn. But I want you to be comfortable talking to me." she said, holding the door open for her daughter to walk in so they would have the discussion privately.

"Dad tried to convince me that you're not a bad person and he wanted me to talk to you. He says you're gonna leave eventually." she shrugged, not knowing what else to say as she took a seat on one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"Yeah, I was suppose to but I don't know. This hospital is kind of growing on me, I might stick around. Richard needed me here just to cover for the peds surgeon who's on maternity leave. But he offers me a contact every time he sees me. One of these days I might accept it. What he's offering me makes my job in New York seem like nothing." Addison explained. "Wait.. 'Dad'? You saw him?"

"Oh, no...I meant Derek. Not him." she assured immediately. "We've been talking a lot since that day at the police station. I feel a lot more comfortable with him now, I kind of understand what everyone meant when they said he's a great father."

"Oh." Addison responded and looked down at her hands, feeling a sense of pain she couldn't explain with words. Regardless of the feeling, she smiled brightly, glad to at least hear that Derek was able to reestablish the bond between himself and his daughter.

"I looked you up online..." she started approaching the subject slowly. "Did you know that almost every major metropolitan hospital has a gossip site? Everyone's dirty laundry is on there."

"No, I didn't know that. But I can't say I'm surprised."

"You have your very own section on both the Seattle page and the New York page. I read like a million blogs about you." Alexa said. "And not too many of them were good. I know all about the affair and the abortion. I know that you stayed with that guy after Dad left. A lot of people called you a whore...and I can't say they're wrong."

Addison's brows both shot up. "Excuse me?"

"I just can't see myself respecting someone like you as my mother. I don't really know you, and you don't really know me but I don't think I want to get to know you and I honestly don't want you to get to know me. I don't want a mother like you. You're not the same woman from that dream, which I don't have anymore by the way."

Addison held back the tears in her eyes and nodded, assuring her daughter that she understood and didn't need further discussion. "The only thing I want, Alexa, is for you to be happy. So if that's what you want than I can respect that. I promise you, I'll sign over full custody to your Dad and Meredith and you'll never have to deal with me again."

"You spoke to your mother?" Derek asked in shock when he saw his daughter walking out of her office. "That's great, kid! I'm proud of you. I'm sure it means a lot to her that you're trying to work things out with her."

Alexa smiled at her father, although it was just a mechanism to fight the guilt. "Yeah..."

* * *

I know, I know: This kid is really starting to become a pain in the ass. Don't worry, from this point on she gets less and less bitchy as she realizes her mistake.  
So the whole story is written. But college starts this Monday and I'm terrified that I'm not gonna have time to remember to breathe. So if you feel like I'm forgetting to post message me and annoy me until I post. If it's been over a week since the last chapter was updated than start bugging me for the rest. I hate incomplete stories so I don't want this to be one of them, especially not if I have the whole thing written.

And don't forget to leave a review.


	7. Chapter 7

Since discovering her daughter's true feelings about her, Addison did everything to steer clear of an awkward meeting. She had promised Alexa that there would be no more need to forge guidelines between them. She didn't want her relationship with her child to feel forced or unnatural. She didn't want to put herself or Alexa in a situation that would only further complicate things.

So she changed her entire schedule to avoid being in the hospital at any time her daughter may have been roaming the halls. She took on the night shift and scheduled all her surgeries to end by noon.

"Addison." Derek exclaimed when he saw her walking into the hospital as he was walking out at the end of the day. She stopped dead in her tracks at the sound of his voice. "Where have you been, I haven't seen you in weeks. Are you just getting to work?"

"New shift." she explained briefly.

"Oh, well... since I finally caught you I should ask: Are you planning on doing anything with Alexa anytime soon?" he wondered. "You just seemed so anxious to have her back and all but I just realized that you two haven't really spent too much time together. I think the only time you've seen her outside this hospital was at the police station."

"What are you talking about?" Addison asked. "Is this something that Alexa said or..."

"No! It's just an observation." he answered. "I was just wondering why you never do anything together, why you never talk...or even see each other. I thought you guys spoke and worked things out."

"We did speak and she told me that she doesn't want me in her life so I'm respecting her choices." Addison answered. "I don't want to force her to respect me or spend time with me. If she doesn't have a place for me in her new life than that's up to her."

"How can she not have a place for you? You're her mother. Doesn't that entitle you to the first position?"

"Derek, you make it sound like this was my choice. I didn't decide this, I'm simply respecting her wishes. She said that she wants nothing to do with me so... I did everything I could to respect her choices." she explained. "I promised that I wouldn't get into contact but I do still care, you know. I do think about her and wonder how she's doing with all of this."

"She's doing great, she's loving school. She took a placement exam to get in, and Meredith and I both thought she'd place low because she's never been to school a day in her life but she actually placed one grade higher than she's suppose to be in."

Addison smiled proudly. "That's great. I'm glad she's doing well." she replied softly. "I should go, I'm running late."

* * *

Mark was known for doing what he wanted and not caring what people thought of him. He didn't care that Addison and Derek didn't want him in Seattle. He was there because they were his family and he needed them to know exactly how sorry he was for his mistakes. He didn't expect them to forgive him, but at least he would know that he put in effort of mend the relationship.

He had been sitting in the lobby of the hospital for over an hour, assuming that he would eventually see Derek or Addison walking out. He somehow managed to miss Derek but saw Addison as soon she walked in. He got up and rushed to catch up with her as she practically ran up the stairs. "Addison!" he called, causing her to turn around.

"Mark." she returned into a small smile as she continued to her floor at a more manageable speed with him beside her. "I didn't see you, I'm running late. I'm not really paying attention to anything around me."

"I thought you'd take off your five and a half thousand dollar shoes and hit me with the end that has the heel." he admitted. He smiled and looked into her eyes, his lips automatically turning upside down in a frown. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." she insisted convincingly.

His brows furrowed together, her tone obviously sparking some sort of concern in him. "I'm not believing you." he told her smuggly. "Believe what you want, Mark. I really have to get going. I've got a hysterectomy scheduled in like...half an hour and I'm just getting to work."

"Who schedules a hysterectomy at like...midnight?" Mark asked.

Addison shrugged. "Well I have the night shift, so if someone wants me as their doctor than they've got to deal with the fact that I'm nocturnal." she replied semi-sarcastically.

"And there is the sarcasm. You are officially in defense mode, which means there is something that you're hiding from me. You pulled the 'It's nothing, I'm fine' move after Alexa was kidnapped, every time Derek would bail out on you you'd say that, you said that when he left you... I think it's only natural that I don't believe you this time." he answered. "Talk to me, your hysterectomy can wait- well not your's, the one you were suppose to do."

She sighed and looked up at him timidly, she walked into her office and left the door open for him,wordlessly allowing him to come in. "My mom died." she admitted in a low dull voice.

"Oh..."

"She had breast cancer apparently. She knew, according to her doctor. She found out about a month before she died. She didn't tell anyone, not even my dad knew." she continued. "He called me to let me know and I don't know what went through my mind but I went out and got tested to see if I have the gene... turns out I not only have the gene, but I've already got the disease."

"Addison." he gasped softly, wishing he could do something to turn back time and figure out a way to save her of the pain she was going to have to endure through the next few months. "Does Derek know? Have you told him? What's going on with him? I know we're not really friends anymore and you may hate me but...talking about it helps."

"Derek doesn't know. I don't want him to know, he's not going to find out. He and I- we weren't meant to be. He's got a girlfriend and he's happy. They're raising Alexa together and they don't need to know about me and my drama."

"Alexa? As in your daughter? She's back?"

"She is." Addison smiled. "She's back and she's beautiful and...everything I would ever ask for in a child. Getting the opportunity to see her again was seriously more than I could ever ask for. It's been hell since she was abducted, especially these last few years. But she's back and she's okay and... that's all a mother could want."

"What about you? What's going on with you? When does your treatment start?" he questioned. "You can't go through treatment alone, if you don't want to depend on Derek than you can come back to New York. I'm not going to force you to be with me, but I will be there for you no matter what." he offered sincerely.

She shook her head, wiping away the tear that was making it's way down her cheek. "I'm not getting treatment." she whimpered.

"What? That's insane, Addison. No! You are. You are getting treatment. You can't not get treatment. If you found it early than the survival rates are in your favor. You can do this, if anyone can do this it's you." he told her encouragingly.

"I will not put myself through that. The nausea, the weakness, lossing all my hair. I can't do that..."

Mark cut her off before she could go on. "You could get a mastectomy if it hasn't spread. And when you've recovered you can get reconstructive surgery, I'll find you an amazing surgeon. You'll literally have the most perfect boobs known to man. No one will know the difference."

"I am not cutting off my breasts, Mark." she told him with her mind made up. "How would you feel if I told you that you should cut off your penis."

"You've threatened it a few times." he joked, then hit himself for not knowing how to control himself. "I'm not asking you to sew your vagina shut, Addison. You can have breasts again.."

"Not mine." she specified. "I don't want little bags filled with some liquid in my chest. This is my decision, Mark."

"And there is no changing your mind?"

"No."

"I guess we'll see about that." he answered, obviously willing to give up on her or let her give up on herself. He walked out of her office, determined that something good should come out of his trip to Seattle. That something good being rescuing Addison from herself.

* * *

When Derek opened the door to his trailer the last person he expected to see was Mark. It took a lot of will power not to slam the door in his former best friend's face. He groaned and stood in the door frame. "What do you want?" he asked with no greeting.

"I need to talk to you." Mark told him firmly. "About Addison.. it's important. I just need you to listen to me, Derek."

Derek crossed his arms. "Are you trying to get my permission to date her or something like that?" he asked dryly.

"I came out here to try to apologize to you guys, see how you're doing. And I saw her and forgot all about that. She looks...it's like she's a whole new person. I got her to talk to me, and she told me that you didn't know and I didn't know how to tell, or what to tell her. So i figured I'd go behind her back and tell you even though she doesn't want you to know." He rambled. "I mean, she should have known, you're my best friend, I tell you everything."

"Mark!" Derek interrupted his seemingly endless monologue. "What are you talking about?"

"I heard that Alexa is back, by the way. Congratulations on that." he exhaled, taking in a fresh breath before he could tell Derek what he was there to tell him.

"Thanks." he mumbled, "Now what's going on with Addison that I absolutely need to know about? I saw her as I was leaving the hospital, you're right She doesn't really seem life the Addison we knew. She's become so...withdrawn recently. I thought it was because everything going on with Alexa. She's says that's all it is but now I'm guessing there is more."

"Bizzy died." Mark stated as soon as Derek closed his mouth. "..of breast cancer."

"That's why she seems so depressed?" Derek asked, his voice sounding less harsh about his presence. There was more concern and softness in his tone. "I know they weren't too close because Bizzy wasn't exactly maternal but she was still her mother and I guess there is some sort of sacred bond there."

"Yeah..."

"Is Addison worried that Alexa wouldn't feel anything if something were to happen to her?" Derek wondered, assuming that would be the worst thing for her at that point. Little did he know that the actual truth was a lot worse.

"She's got breast cancer too, Derek. And she doesn't want treatment." he said softly, not knowing exactly how he could tell his estranged best friend that his estranged wife was dying. "But now that you mention it, I think your assumption is probably somewhere on his mind."

"Addison has cancer?" Derek said slowly, seemingly now lost in a trace of his own. One that was very similar to the one is wife was currently in. Mark could literally see the color draining from Derek's face, and thought it was impossible, he could swear that he could hear his heart pounding faster than normal.

"I'm sorry, Derek." he offered solemnly, not knowing what else to say. "I don't know what's going on with you two. She mentioned you having a girl friend but.." he stopped talking and shrugged. "It's hard to imagine you with any other woman by your side. You're always gonna be Derek of Derek and Addison to anyone who knew you before...I happened. I'm sorry for everything but she needs you."

* * *

Yes, I really gave her breast cancer. It makes the whole situation more delicate.  
What do you think? Wanna kill me for it?


	8. Chapter 8

After Mark left that night Derek tried to get back to a sense of normalcy. Only problem was that he couldn't. It was as if he became a zombie. He was living mindlessly, too occupied in thinking about Addison, her condition and their terms with one another to think about anything else that was going on around him.

"Derek?" Meredith asked, hovering in front of his face while trying to get him to snap out of his trance.

"He's been like that for almost two days." Alexa murmured. "He barely talks, he doesn't sleep. It's really weird. I know I don't know him too well but it's like he's a whole different person now."

"Derek!" Meredith exclaimed again, this time causing him to snap out of his trance. "What's going on with you?"

"Meredith." he sighed, rubbing his eyes with a desperate need to catch up on sleep. "What are you doing here?"

"Alexa called me. She's really worried about you. And so am I, you didn't answer my calls yesterday, you didn't show up to work. It's a little unlike you. I just wanted to make sure you're okay." she answered. "And you're not...which is a little unexpected. Do you wanna talk about it? Is it me?"

Derek shook his head. "I need to talk to my daughter." he answered. "We have a lot to discuss, we have to make a few decisions. I'll call you when we're done. Okay?" he asked.

Meredith looked skeptical as she walked toward the trailer. She turned to Alexa and whispered, "Call me if he floats off into a different world again."

A few minutes later Derek drew in a deep breath and looked his daughter's eyes, the ones that looked identical to her mother's. "Your mother's mother died." he told her.

"I don't really know my mother let alone my grandmother. I'm sorry for her loss...but..." she drifted off, not knowing what else to say in regards to the death of a woman she's never even heard about. "Were you close or something? Is that why you look so depressed and shocked?"

"No." he answered. "We weren't close at all. Your mother wasn't even close with her. She wasn't exactly a very maternal, naturing person. But she was still your mother's mother and I know it hurts to lose a parent, no matter what the terms are. Especially if you never got the chance to make things right."

"What are we getting at here?" Alexa asked, raising her brow which only inflicted more of a resemblance with her mother.

"There is no easy way to say this, Alexa. No matter how bad things get between all of us, she's your mother. The only one you will ever have. And she's got breast cancer." he informed her gently. "I haven't spoken to her yet, I don't know details. She wasn't even planning on telling us. But anyway, she's chosen not to seek treatment which means that it is going to kill her."

"She's gonna die?"

Derek nodded regretfully. "Breast Cancer is aggressive. She... I'm not sure how long she's got but once it's progressed there is not much to do to stop it."

"I can't believe how selfish that woman is." Alexa scoffed. "She is gonna die and she wasn't even gonna tell you. And she's not getting treatment? What an attention whore! I mean, it's obvious she just wants people to coddle her. I can't believe her. She is so... ugh!" she groaned.

"She's not doing it for attention!" Derek raised his voice. "She's not! She probably thinks she's got nothing to fight for. If she wanted attention than she'd want to tell us so we could be all over her and talking her care of her, feeling bad for her. But she wasn't going to. She was probably going to work for as long as she could, and when she couldn't anymore she would stay home and wait to die... alone probably. If she felt like she was getting worse she wouldn't tell anyone. I know her, I know what she's thinking right now."

"You haven't even spoken to her!" Alexa exclaimed loudly. "How could you know what she's planning on doing or how she feel? How could you know what's going on in her mind? If I didn't know any better I'd say that you were the one that was just diagnosed..." she paused and looked up into her father's eyes then added, "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were still in love with her."

"What?"

"I've heard the story about the day I was born. I think it's Richard's favorite story to tell. He mentioned that you said you would want to take Addison's place because you hate seeing her in pain. That if you could, you'd actually rather be the one to suffer just because you love her too much to see her like." Alexa explained. "And that was like 13 years ago but that's love... and this sounds like the exact same thing. You are feeling her pain, that's love."

Derek squinted his eyes together. "I love her." he whispered to himself, test to words out to see how they sound. "I love her." he said a little more loudly this time, looking to his daughter for a response of some sort. "She can't die because I love her!"

"I'm not sure that that's enough of a reason to want to live." Alexa told him dryly. "No offence but it wouldn't be the first time you broke her heart if things don't work out. I think she's long passed the 'love is everything' frame of thought. If you want to change her mind than you need to really have a reason to get her to want to live. She needs a reason."

"You."

"Me?"

"You need her. And she needs you." he reasoned. "You're her reason to live."

"I'm not sure that I follow." Alexa responded. "We agreed. It's suppose to be like we don't know one another. It's suppose to be like I don't have a mother. She isn't suppose to be a part of my life."

"She loves you, Alexa. You don't understand how much she loves you, she can't tell you. You won't understand until you look down at your own child and know it's yours. You're the only reason she's still going. If police were to find you body after the kidnapping, if we had proof that you were really dead, she would not be here. She wouldn't have survived this long. She kept going because she had hope. And now you're here and she knows you're safe and you don't need her and she doesn't have a reason anymore." he explained.

* * *

Alexa was seated across the table from her father at a small restaurant in the city. She was playing with the edge of the linen napkin she had draped across her lap and although her eyes were focused on the menu, she knew her father was staring her down. She finally gave up on choosing her meal and returned his gaze.

"Why are you so against her?" Derek asked. It had been a whole 24 hours since the discussion had come up. However, that question was burning in Derek's mind. He needed to understand. "Why do you hate her so adamantly? And don't tell me it's because she's a whore. She's not, she made one mistake. That does not make her a whore. It's not like I wasn't cheating on her, too. She spent a few nights with Mark, I had a whole relationship with Meredith. If she's a whore than I'm not far off."

"That was just a random excuse I came up with." Alexa admitted. "I read all about the affair online. It just popped into him mind while I was talking to her and it seemed like a logical excuse at the time. I don't know why. But it really did seem like it would make sense. And she believed me so I never bothered to come up with a better lie."

"A random excuse?" Derek asked, his jaw gaping just slightly. "So what is your real reason?"

"She took it." Alexa whispered in shame. "She actually took my bitching. She didn't try to restrain my rebellion. She respected me, she listened, she loved me despite it. She took it."

"It gave you a sense of self-control." Derek realized, nodding as the thought made more and more sense to him.

"I thought I had an eternity to start getting along with her, I thought eventually she would realize and reach out." she went on. "I never thought that two weeks into it she'd get some crazy-ass fatal disease that would kill her. I didn't think that I'm on limited time that was about to expire." she paused to take a breath before continuing on with her rambling. "And now I'm so confused!..."

"Just think about it." Derek advised. "Like your mother said, do what makes you happy. If you want her in your life you need to tell her, if you don't see her as a part of your future than we need to come to terms with the decisions she's made from herself."

Alexa nodded slowly, telling her father that she agreed and understood what he was telling her.

"But Alexa, you don't have too much time to do that thinking. She doesn't have time." he reminded.

* * *

I'm sorry you guys hate that little breast cancer twist. It had to be done and I would never be able to kill off Addison, just keep that in mind for future reference. This isn't my favorite chapter, it kinda really sucks to me. But it's like transitional chapter to show Alexa's dilemma and confusion. One minute she's pissed off and blaming Addison for wanted to die and the next she's not sure that she's ready to lose her mother. I'm not sure how well I wrote that aspect of the chapter. Let me know your opionions on it, if you have suggestion to improve it than let me know.

Oh a seperate note, I just scored two tickets to the Emmys this Sunday after like three years of trying. On the downside, Kate Walsh will not be there this year.


	9. Chapter 9

It was the middle of the night, pitch black in the trailer in the middle of the forest. There was no sound to keep her awake, nothing that should be worrying her but Alexa couldn't sleep. She was just lying on her back, staring up at the blackness and letting her mind wander in all directions. Eventually, she got out of bed and quietly walked the three feet it took to get to her father's bedroom.

"Are you sleeping?" she whispered. She heard motion coming from the bed and turned on the light to see her father sitting up and staring at her with red eyes. "I know this sounds really weird, especially from someone who was sexually...violating by someone I thought was my father but... Can you sleep in your bed?"

Derek nodded, assuring her that sleeping in a bed with a parents is normally never connected with sexual implications. It's a way to comfort yourself and put your mind at ease, knowing that you've got someone there that will protect you from it all. "Why aren't you asleep?" he asked as she covered herself with the blanket.

"I don't know." she shrugged. "I know I've live in the middle of no where all my life but I hate this trailer. I seriously hate everything about it."

Derek chuckled. "Of course you do, you are Addison's daughter. It would be against your genetic programming to enjoy living somewhere like this." he answered. "It's not forever, Alexa. It's just until I can figure out what I want. We might end up going back to New York. And since you've got your mother's taste in pretty much everything, I promise that you'll love it there."

"I want my mom." she whispered, not sure if it was even loud enough for Derek to hear her.

"What?" Derek asked in shock.

Alexa shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't want her to die." she explained. "I want her to be around so I can hate her, I wanna have fighting with her over nothing. I wanna be able to confide in her and know that she'll be there no matter what. If she dies we...we can't have that. And I wanna have that. I wanna have my mom."

* * *

It was starting to get to Addison. She would get tired a lot quicker than usual, she would almost never have energy. She would spend any spare second she had in an on-call room trying to get enough rest to go on with her day. The only difference was that tonight when she walked into the on-call room she saw her daughter lying on the bottom bunk of one of the bed and staring at her.

"Alexa." she started in shock, feeling as if she had broken her promise to her daughter with this accidental run in. "I'm exhuasted, would you mind of I took the other bed? All the other on-call rooms are taken. I promise not to talk...or even look your way."

Alexa nodded her head and watched as Addison shut the door and get onto the bed. She didn't bother covering herself with a blanket or even taking off her shoes because she knew she would be paged in ten minutes before she could even get settled in. She watched her mother curl up, seeking to find as much comfort as possible and realized she couldn't look away.

"Are you okay?" Alexa whispered through the silence.

Addison turned on her back and looked at her daughter. "Don't worry about me." she answered. "It's late, you should be asleep."

Alexa shook her head. "I wanna talk to you." she answered, causing a slight arch in Addison's brow. "That Mark guy told Dad, and Dad told me... We've both been thinking about it for a while. I'm not sure if he's spoken to you or not but he loves you. He was just too stupid to realize that. Ironic, right? A brainless brain surgeon."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know that you've got breast cancer." she told her mother. "I know that you just lost your mother to it, and I know that since she had it and you have it than I'm probably going to have it too. I looked it all up online. On a separate but related note, I love internet, that thing is amazing. Anyway, I think I know everything that there is to know just in case you wanna talk..."

"Alexa, like I said, you don't have to think about me. You don't have to worry." Addison told her softly.

"No, I do! I do have to worry. Because if you continue being stupid then you're gonna die. And if you die than I'm not gonna have a mother."

"You never had one regardless. You'll be fine." Addison reassured. "You won't even notice."

"I did too have a mother! The woman in my dream, aka you. According to that you were a great mother, according to all the stories people have told me. I want to have that again." she admitted. "I want my mom. I wanna be like every other teenage girl. I wanna fight with you over everything, and hate you for nothing. I want you to know that no matter what I'll love you because you're my mom. I want to go shopping and talk about things I can't talk to my dad about."

"Alexa..."

"Please." she continued begging. "I don't know what was wrong with me before. I don't know why just randomly decided to hate you. I wanted to rebel, I thought you would be furious with me. I thought you'd do something punish me. I didn't think you'd really listen and respect my choices. You loved me despite the fact that I was a stupid, bratty bitch. I thought I have forever to make up for everything but I don't. If you die, if you actually choose to die than I don't have forever! That's why you need to get the treatment. Does that make sense?"

"Honey, you need to stop rambling." Addison cut her off, still lying in the opposite bed. She was tired, she could actually feel the pain of exhaustion. She wasn't sure how she was still awake but she didn't want to fall asleep in the middle of this conversation. It was the first and possibly last time her daughter had the chance to tell how how she really felt.

"No." she exclaimed, sitting up with her legs hanging off the side of the bed. "You need to get the treatment. You need to. It's not a choice. I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. You need to get treatment. You need to live. You need to fight for me. I need you."

Addison had no response. The only thing Alexa heard was a gasp for air and she shot up to her feet and literally jumped to her mother's side.

"Mom?" she exclaimed,using the word for the first time in the duration of her life as she watched Addison struggle to remain stable long enough for her to get help. "Breathe! You're not breathing! You went to medical school, you're suppose to remember to breathe!" she yelled in panic, having absolutely no idea what else she could do.

"Alexa..." she gasped, trying to get as much air into her lungs as possible. "I love..." Alexa cut in before she could finish.

"You love me, I know! Shut up, stop making it sound like you're dying! You're not. Stop trying to talk and start breathing." She looked down at her mother, watching as her eyes shut and she stopped gasping for air. Her heart started beating faster at that very second. "...This isn't exactly how this conversation was suppose to end." she mumbled to herself.

* * *

Before you go get your shoes on to come find me and kill me, just remember what I said in the last author's note.

Reviews would be awesome :)


	10. Chapter 10

Alexa sat quietly in a waiting room. She had the chief's wife sitting by her side, telling her stories about herself in the throught the one year span she knew her. She looked up at the older woman with a very depressed look in her eyes.

"I don't mean to be rude, I'm really grateful that you're trying to help but I don't wanna talk. I don't wanna hear about what it was, what it could have been like." she said with a guilty expression. "I just wanna sit here and not think about that."

Adele nodded. "Okay." she whispered.

A few minutes later Derek walked quietly into the room, causing his daughter to jump up from her seat and run straight into his arms. "She's okay." he told her, hugging her tightly and providing her with a sort of wordless comfort. "Her lung collapsed, sometimes that happens for no real reason. But she's fine now. They gave her a sedative so she could sleep comfortably through the night."

"Don't they need her permission before doing something like that?"

Derek shook his head. "If she's not conscious than they get permission from her next of kin. For adults that usually means a spouse. I gave them permission."

"So you can make any medical decision for her right now?" Alexa's brows rose as her eyes sparked. She watched her father nod and a grin grew on her face. "Fix it, Daddy. You need to fix it while you can."

* * *

When Addison woke up, a full 17 hours later, she opened her eyes to see her daughter sitting in the chair beside her bed. She rolled her head to the other side and noticed Derek who's head hadlolled off sometime after he fell asleep. She slowly reached for the hand he had resting by the bed. He opened his eyes as soon as he felt someone touch him. It took him a few seconds to gain perspective of where he was and what was going on but as soon as he saw Addison looking at him he was fully alert.

"Addison." he smiled, rubbing his eyes so he wouldn't fall asleep again. "Feeling okay?"

She didn't answer him, only because she wasn't too sure how she was feeling. "What happen?" she whispered.

Derek got up from his seat, stretching enough for her to hear creepy cracking coming from his body. "Do you want me to hold you with your back to my chest or would you prefer to face me?"

Addison looked up at him skeptically, she inclined one of her perfectly shaped brows and continued to stare at him. "I don't want you to hold me, Derek." she answered. "I want you to tell me what happen. I want to know why you're sitting at my bedside."

"Because I love you." he answered simply. "You're my wife, you're in the hospital. Do you really think there is anywhere else for me to be?"

"You love me?" She repeated skeptically. "When did that happen?"

"I met you when I was 22. I was sure that I was in love with you and needed to be with you forever with you at 22 and a half, proposed at 23. Married by 24.. Which brings to total to 15 and a half years." he answered with a smart-ass smile across his lips. "I know I've sucked at showing it lately but I need you to trust me on this one. Okay?...I just need you to believe me. I really do love you and care about you. I need you."

She nodded slowly, trying not to break a tear. "What happen to me?"

"Your lung collapsed." Derek told her softly. "But you're okay, I made sure no half ass doctor touched you. You didn't need a chest tube, they managed to stabilize you without. But since I had all the authority over you and your medical condition, I had you tested. I wanted to know what stage your cancer was at. I wanted to know what the options were."

"I can't say I'm surprised." Addison mumbled.

"I considered getting you into an OR for double mastectomy and immediate reconstruction. Alexa got the idea into my head. Mark talked me out of it when I asked him to do it. He said you would castrate the both of us. He told me that I should talk to you and tell you how I feel about you. And if you still don't change your mind than I should respect your decision and support you."

"Who knew Mark could be so insightful?" she remarked with a smirk. "So what is it that you feel about all this?"

"I want you to fight it, I want to help you fight it. If you don't want chemo, than you have other options. I will support you through anything you choose to do. And if you choose to not do anything than I'll love you anyway. I'll be there for you through every single day and we'll try to be the family that we could have been if all this shit didn't happen. Even if it's for a short period of time...it's still something."

"You wanna be a family?"

Derek nodded, glancing over to their daughter who was still asleep in the most uncomfortable position on a chair placed at the other side of the hospital bed. "We do. Alexa wants her mother. She doesn't want to choose between us. And I want my wife. I don't want a girlfriend, or anyone else for that matter. I just want you. So if you feel that same, if you want us than yeah...we should be a real family again."

She looked up into his eyes, saw the genuine look of sincerity in his eyes and slowly nodded her head. "I do. I do wanna have what we missed out on."

Derek smiled, letting out a breath in relief. "Does that mean you'll get treatment?"

She nodded again. "Thank you for not being like my father."

"What?" he asked, his brows spiking up in confusion. "What does your father have anything to do with anything?"

"I know he and my mom didn't have the perfect marriage, I know they both have their own affairs going... We were the same why. But despite that, you noticed me. You realized something was wrong and you wanted to fix it. You gave up the life you made for yourself here and you did that for me. He didn't even notice something was wrong until she died."

"We are never going to be like them, Addison." he assured, knowing that her greatest fear was to end up in her mother's shoes. "We are not them, we are never going to be. I will always notice you. I will always love you...even if I get sidetracked once in a while. I just need something to knock the sense back into me, that's what this cancer did. It helped me see passed my arrogance. And I'm sorry it took something so horrible to finally get me to understand."

"You're being very charming." she smiled. "If I wasn't in a hospital bed, I'd be turned on."

"The feeling will go away, trust me." they heard Mark interrupt. He stood beside Derek and folded his arms. "Did he tell you what we spoke about? Has she spoken to you about the plans we made for you?"

Addison glanced at Derek then looked back to Mark. "He mentioned that you talked some sense into him." she shrugged, not sure if that was the response that he was looking for. "Is there something else that you two discussed that I should know?"

"We made a treatment plan for you." Mark grinned. "Oh, I just assumed that you two are all smiley because she chose to go through with treatment...Because looking happy wouldn't make sense if she just told you she wants to die no matter how you feel about her."

"She did." Derek answered. "She is getting treatment and we are going to raise our daughter together, we are going to move past this and it's going to make us stronger. I'm actually determined to make this work this time. I usually always get what I want when I'm determined."

"Awesome, so all that planning wasn't for no reason. We booked an OR for tomorrow, we figured we could cancel if you refused. The chief could always use an extra OR, he won't mind us canceling. Anyway, I'll do a double mastectomy followed by an immediate reconstruction. I'll make it identical, I promise. It will look like nothing every changed." he paused, raised a brow as he continued with the trademark 'Mark' smirk, "Unless you want them to be bigger...or smaller."

"Stop looking at my wife's chest, Mark." Derek said dryly as his eyes followed Mark's line of vision.

"I'm an artist, okay? I've got to visualize my canvas so I know that I'm working with." he answered with just the slightest hint of sarcasm. But based on the sound of his voice and the look on his face, Derek knew that his ex-best friend (who had become his best friend again without him even noticing) was being serious.

* * *

Next chapter is sadly the last chapter :( I wish I had more ideas to take this story further but I don't want it to be over-kill. I want it to be somewhat realistic so people could actually picture everything that is happening. So anyway, let me know your thoughts :)

On a seperate note, I scored tickets to The Tonight Show to see Kate Walsh on the 16th. I'm gonna have to miss class for it but I don't care! I'm so effing excited!


	11. Chapter 11

Nothing is worse than waking up from the sound of a dull vibration caused by an incoming call on the nightstand two feet away. Alexa groaned, pulling her pillow over her head to drown out the sound. But when it persisted, she gave up and sat up to answer it. She didn't bother checking the caller ID, she didn't really care to know who it was. She just wanted to go back to sleep.

"Do you have any idea what time it is? The sun isn't even out yet!" she exclaimed into the phone.

"Alexa." a relieved voice called her name form the other end of the line. "Oh, my god, Alexa...I have done everything to try to get in touch with you. I thought my lawyer was lying to me when he said this would defiantly be the number to catch you on."

And suddenly she wasn't drowsy anymore. Her eyes shot open and she sat up, her voice caught in her throat. She needed to take a few deep breaths before she could bring herself to say, "Who is this?" even thought she knew perfectly well who it was.

"Your father! I don't care what those idiots tell you, Alexa. I'm your father, I raised you. I took care of you." he persisted wither determination. "I knew that bitch would screw this up for us the second I saw her in the ER. I knew it. I shouldn't have left you alone with her, I shouldn't have trusted her with you. But I don't really wanna talk about them right now. I called to talk to you. How are you?"

"I'm fine." she said dully while putting serious consideration into hanging up the phone."I'm glad. That whole hospital situation really scared me, honey. I've been worried about you." George told her, his voicing sounding sweet and considerate as if he really had been an amazing father to the child he had abducted. "I know the trail is coming up...I just wanted to know if you were gonna be there. I haven't seen you in such a long time. I wanna see are going to make this right, they are not going to win this."

"I uh..." Originally she had intended on going, she wanted to see him and tell him off. She wanted to tell him that being about to get away from him was a blessing in disguise. But hearing his voice only reminded her of the creepy feeling she'd lived with for a majority of her life. "No, I won't be there. My Mom and I have plans to go on a New York shopping spree that week."

"Oh, come on!" he yelled. "That woman is not your mother! Don't you tell me that you let them convince you otherwise. And you're my girl! You don't like shopping. You hate the city."

"No, you hate the city. You hate shopping. You hate my parents. Don't tell me what I do and do not like. I'll be the one to determine that." she answered with equal resentment. "And I'm not your girl! Being someone's child has nothing to do with your likes and dislikes. Jane Goodhall's kid could hate every member of the primate family!"

"You are certainly a lot more aggressive and smart-mouthed. That's why I never took you to school."

Alexa scoffed. "I am gonna hang up right now and if you ever call me again I will file a restraining order that tops any restraining order to have ever been issued. Got me?" she stated strongly, hanging up before he even had a chance to answer her.

After the call, she got out of bed and drifted downstairs much like a zombie. She came to a halting stop when she saw the kitchen lights on and noticed her parents. Her father was leaning against the island, his concentration the newspaper lying on the granite counters. Her mother was leaning against a countertop with a mug of coffee in her hand and her cell phone in the other.

"Why are you guys up?" She asked in a very demure voice.

"Early shift." Derek explained.

"First day back." Addison contributed. "And I'm nervous so I couldn't sleep."

"Why are you up?" her father questioned, looking up from the paper with her brows quirk and a glance fixed in her direction.

"Phone woke me up." she answered simply.

"Did you accidentally set a reminder for yourself and put AM instead of PM?" Addison asked as she glared at Derek. He had done that on several occasions over the course of their marriage and woken her up at 4 am because of his mistake. "Because if you did, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that it's a genetic defect you Shepherds have."

Derek scoffed, although she could see the smile he was trying to hide. "Like the Montgomerys know everything about everything."

"We do, actually."

"Okay. Can we focus for like two seconds and not get into another pointless argument over the stupidest things." Alexa interrupted.

"Well you can't have make-up sex without arguing first." Derek mumbled under his breath. "And make-up sex is the best kinda sex. It's so much hotter than regular sex."

Alexa cleared her throat and suppressed a gag. "I am going to pretend I didn't hear that." she grimaced. "It wasn't an alarm on my phone that woke me up. It was a call."

"At 5:30 in the morning?" Addison asked with her one brow inclined slightly higher than the other. "Who would call you at this hour?"

"It was George..."

"The intern?" both parents asked at once.

"Walters. The psycho kidnapper." she corrected with a sarcastic tone. The next thing she heard was the sound of the mug in Addison's hand shattering on the ground. She unconsciencly jumped back and looked down at the dark beige liquid puddling the shards of broken ceramic. "Not the reaction I expected."

"Sorry." Addison sighed as she knelt down to clean the mess. "I forgot I had something in my hand."

Derek stopped her within the second, extending his arm out to her to help her up. "I will clean it up. I know you're cleared for surgery and you talked Richard into letting you go back to work but I'm not buying it. You still need to relax as much as possible. The surgery was only a few weeks ago."

Addison sighed, looking into his eyes as he spoke and nodding when he was done. "What is wrong with me? I swear, I heard her say his name and I don't know what hand gesture I was going for but I actually forget I was holding something."

"It's okay. It happens." Derek assured as he threw the larger pieces away and focus on cleaning the mess. "Continue."

"He said his lawyer got my number for him. He said that he wanted to see me, he wanted me to go to the trail with you guys. He told me that he would make everything alright and that he wasn't going to let you win this." she went on with her story. And when she glance at Addison during the final few words she saw the panic level go up just from the look in her eyes.

"What did you say?" Derek asked.

"I told him I'd be in New York that week. I said that my mom and I had already made plans and that I wasn't going to cancel them. I told him not to call again and I said that if he did I would file a restraining order against him." as she answered the question she noticed that her mother was no longer holding an anxious breath. "So I was hoping that offer still stand...I don't wanna be around during that trail, I really don't. I wanna be far far away from here."

"Honey, you're going to need to testify." Derek told her softly. "I'm sure your mother will take you to New York anytime you ask her to but that week does not work."

"Testify? What's there to testify, he kept him locked in a house that was barely standing. He withheld me from an eduction, he never bothered to feed me unless it was on his terms. And his terms were, no sexual stuff, no food. Well... he called it the 'Special Game' if we played than I wouldn't stave that day."

"I do not want to know how that game works." Addison grumbled.

"I'm not standing in front of a jury to say that a man who I thought was my father would basically rape me on a weekly basis. I am not telling them that the reason I met you guys was because he beat me and I needed medical care. I'll write it all down and sign it or whatever but I will not announce it to a group of people I do not know."

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do." her mother assured her. "I'll book a flight to New York. We would stay at the Brownstone...but it doesn't have room service and hotels do."

Alexa smiled weakly. "Thank you." she said made her way out of the kitchen to try to go back to sleep.

Derek glared at his wife. "You can't promise her something like that without double checking with our lawyer or even a judge."

"Talk to the lawyer, find out who the judge is and talk to them. My child is not walking into the courtroom and that is final."

* * *

"Stop staring at my wife's breasts, Mark." Derek said dully.

Mark cleared his throat and looked away from Addison. "I can't help it. It's the most perfect reconstruction any one has ever done. It's perfect.. It's so amazing that it should be illegal for her to be dressed from the waist up."

"And I'm grateful for that." Derek responded. "But it's weird. Especially in public. We need to move on from everything that happened and I'm trying, I am. It's just so much more difficult with you constantly looking at her tits. I understand what happen between you, I know what you guys were thinking but it doesn't make this any less awkward."

"He's creepy. Are you sure he's...safe to be around?" Alexa whispered to her mother, not realizing that she spoke loud enough for everyone else at the table to hear.

Addison laughed and looked at Derek to answer the question. "He's Mark." Derek explained, as if that was reason enough. "He would never hurt anyone on purpose, he's just...a little screwed up."

Mark nodded in agreement. "Besides, you used to love me when you where little. I would pull into the driveway and you would wake up and start screaming until someone came to get you to hang out with us." he told her. "I know you are just barely getting used to your parents, and they are still trying to adjust between work and family. We are still trying to restore our friendship and they are still working on their marriage. But eventually, I hope, we're gonna be that untouchable little posse again."

Addison quickly wiped a tear away before anyone else could notice it. Tears of happiness, something she had been missing for a lot time. She cleared her throat and looked between Mark and Derek. "How did things go while we were in New York?" she asked, knowing both men were at the trail.

"He's in prison for life." Derek answered.

"For breaking an entry, destruction of private property, kidnapped, child molestation, child neglect, and child abuse. And it turns he lashed out at one of the cops in jail so they have him a sentance for that too...and it amounted to 50 years in prison." Mark explained further.

"I thought you said life." Alexa commented, looking at her father.

"Well the guy is 47. Add 50 to that and it's 97. I doubt he would live that long. He's gonna be in prison for the rest of his life which means that you have got nothing to worry about. You will never have to see him. You are safe. No one is ever going to hurt you ever again." Derek reasoned.

"Yeah, and he can't get out on Parole and he's won't be eligible for early release." Mark added. "That's what happens when your lawyer charges 1,500 dollars an hour."

"And while we're on the subject," Derek paused and turned to Addison with a smug look on his face, a face that he obviously picked up from Mark. "I told you so."

Addison brows came together. "You told me so?" she questioned. "What did you tell me so?"

"A year affair the abduction I told you everything would eventually be okay. I told you that we'd have her back and I said it would all happen at the worst possible time for us but we would make it work. I was right." he grinned. "Our marriage was shot to hell, our lives were chaotic, we had no time for a child and that's when she chooses to show up. And it may have been the battle of a lifetime but we made it work. You asked me if we would be okay, and we are. Hence, the 'I told you so.'"

* * *

Kate Walsh on Jay Leno was awesome. She actually looks even more amazing in person than she does on TV, which was hard to believe. The Sushi dress caught me off gaurd, I would have been like "What the fuck?" but they would have escorted me out and I didn't want that too happen. She was soo cute during commercial breaks. I'm soooo totaly getting tickets the next time she's on a show, it was amazing. And in case you were wondering, Jason Ritter is about a trillion times hotter in person.

Oh, and of course... Thanks for reading. Don't forget one last review.


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